


Guide Me Through the Night

by Malkuthe



Series: His Lost Light [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Blindness, Death, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Physical Disability, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 05:31:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3838918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malkuthe/pseuds/Malkuthe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life is a transient state of being, filled with all the joys and celebrations, and the sorrows and tragedies, that the world can give. Though passing as life might be, there is one thing that is found in life that not even death can conquer: the truest of loves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Guide Me Through the Night

Will closed his eyes and tilted his chin to the sky. He savoured the feeling of the cool autumn breeze as it swept across his face and over the think wrinkled skin of his neck. Though the rest of his body ached in his advanced age, many of his senses remained as acute as they were since he adapted to his blindness.

Will could smell very clearly the sweet scent of seawater in the air, one of the many advantages of having a house so near to the coast. Another, which he greatly appreciated, was the fact that he could hear with astonishing clarity the sound of the waves crashing against the nearby beach.

Ever since Will had lost the use of his eyes, he had become so much more sensitive to everything else. Blindness was an inconvenience and a challenge that he had had to overcome and would have to overcome so long as he drew breath. At the same time, however, the darkness that ruled his every waking moment made everything else so much more meaningful.

Every touch to Will’s face, every holding of his hand, every kiss placed upon his lips by his beloved husband, every kiss pressed against his forehead by his only sun, and every hug given to him by his granddaughter. All of it was made all the more intense and memorable by the loss of his sight. Will no longer knew, truly, if he would trade being able to see again for all the profundities he’d come to learn and experience over the last decades.

Whatever was the case, Will tilted his head further back, exposing his face to the gentle warmth of the sun’s light on his face. Will was confident that the sky was clear and that he sun was smiling upon the earth. He couldn’t be completely certain, no, but he was a son of Apollo, after all. This was something he was supposed to know by heart.

Will looked down when he felt a thumb rubbing tender circles around the back of his hand. He couldn’t help the smile that crept into his lips. Fifty years to the day since they were married, and still, Nico had not tired of holding his hand.

Fifty years and Nico had never failed to remain by Will’s side to guide him even through seemingly impossible odds. When they had first come together, both of them had been convinced that Will would be the one doing the guiding. It was almost funny, had it not been so tragic, how things turned out.

Nico was pulling Will in a very familiar direction. It was the way of a pilgrimage that both of them had done every day without fail for the last couple of years, much to the chagrin of their son, son-in-law, and granddaughter.

As Nico pushed his wheelchair along, Will could hear a familiar creaking over the soft sound of the waves breaking on the shore. The short trip had always been bittersweet for Will. He enjoyed spending time with Nico, but at the same time, the slab of basalt stone at the edge of the property, where backyard met beach, reminded him of the sorry state of affairs his life was currently in.

“We’re doing this again?” said Will, his voice breathy. Even his words were thin like his skin. He might have been a demigod, but he had not been safe from the ravages of the passage of time.

Nico’s voice was not as touched by the turning of the seasons as Will’s. Will didn’t truly envy him for it, but Nico’s voice was clear and strong like it had been when they were younger, as though fifty years had not gone by yet.

Will supposed that he should have been thankful for the strength that Nico had regained over the last three years. He never failed to hear Nico’s voice over the sound of the waves against the nearby shore. “Yes, Will,” said Nico. Will could hear the words and could sincerely imagine Nico rolling his eyes. “We’re _doing this again_ ,” said Nico, in as mocking a tone as he could manage.

Will couldn’t help but feel relief to hear the happiness that was laced through Nico’s voice. It was almost as though his husband had been liberated. Will had always known, since that fateful day so long ago now, that Nico had felt trapped in his body. Truth be told, since that other fateful day three years ago, Will was pretty sure that Nico _had_ been liberated.

Will chuckled to himself, although he found that the sound did not come to him as readily as it had in years past. He was at the edge of his life now, after all. He was frail and fragile. His advanced age had seen to that. He was also one of the few left of all the friends he’d made in his long life.

Even the demigods that had lived to see the end of all the two great wars, and the unprecedented peace that had come from the subjugation of Tartarus and its grotesquerie of beasts, had not lived much past sixty. Will, on the other hand, was quickly coming upon the age of eighty, with Nico not much further behind him.

When the creaking of Nico’s wheelchair finally stopped, Will was taken from his thoughts. He stopped in his tracks, too, and in what was now routine, he reached out before him. His fingers struggled to find the edge of the basalt slab that was at the edge of the property.

A full minute had passed and still, Will hadn’t found the edge of the slab. Will was convinced by now, three years later, that the damn thing either moved around every morning, or Nico always guided him just a _little_ bit astray so he wouldn’t be able to find it.

Before Will could try again, he felt cool fingers on his own. Maybe it wasn’t so bad. Maybe it was Nico’s way of finding an excuse to hold his hand, even though they had been holding hands just moments before.

Will couldn’t help but smile as Nico guided his hand to the edge. “Alright,” said Will, running his fingers along the edge just to make sure he knew exactly how far it was from him. Will turned and opened his arms in what he hoped was Nico’s direction. “Get on,” he said.

“A little to the left,” said Nico, with a barely-contained chuckle. Will had gotten navigation down pat, but even now, more than three decades later, Will still hadn’t managed to master how to face the people he was talking to.

“Oh you little bastard,” said Will, his voice throatier than he would have liked. He couldn’t help but laugh when he heard the wheelchair creak and he felt a pair of cold arms wrap around his neck. Nico pulled him down and he was more than glad to bend over as much as his old bones would allow.

Will slipped one of his arms under Nico’s knees and used the other to support Nico’s back as he lifted the other man with a grunt. It certainly helped his rickety old bones that Nico didn’t weigh as much now as he had in the last couple of decades.

Will didn’t need to help Nico up the slab of rock. After all, Nico was more than capable of that now, after years of getting used to the limitations of his body. Nevertheless, Will rather liked doing things for Nico, even though this particular gentlemanly act made his knees ache as he carried Nico over to the basalt slab.

Will sighed when he felt Nico’s arms slip away from around his neck. “Don’t fall off, okay?” he said, absentmindedly. He frowned for a moment when Nico burst out into laughing. It took a moment for Will to realize that he had been _so_ close to saying ‘doctor’s orders’ all over again.

Will hadn’t been a doctor for a very long time, but he had never quite gotten rid of his tendency to be more careful than what was warranted. Being the dutiful husband, Nico took every chance to poke fun at him for it.

“Yes sir,” said Nico, with a small smile on his face that Will did not need to see to know was there. Will also didn’t have to see to know that Nico was probably looking out over the beach, remembering all the happy memories that they had built there over the last fifty years.

“Are those doctor’s orders again?” said Nico, with a laugh that made Will’s heart skip a beat. Fifty years later, and every day with Nico still felt like the first day that they had met. The fact that their love ran so deeply never failed to amaze Will.

It took a moment for Will’s mind to process what Nico had said, and when it did, the smile slipped from his face. Will traced his fingers along the edge of the slab and walked around it to the side facing the sea.

Nico often said that the stone was so black that it almost seemed to suck the light in, but Will was of the opinion that Nico was exaggerating a little bit. What Will _did_ know was that without a doubt, the cut of the stone was unnaturally smooth.

Will leaned his back against the stone slab and slid down onto the grass. “Yeah,” he said. Will rubbed his throat when the word came out strained. He wished he had taken the bottle of water that had been on the kitchen table before coming out. “Doctor’s orders…”

Will’s words were bittersweet. Ever since he’d been struck blind, he hadn’t been able to practise his profession to the best of his abilities, if at all. Will remembered the surge of hope that he’d gotten when Nico had asked Hades for the money and approval to build something of an extension to the house that Will could use as a clinic. Nowadays, the place was gathering dust, along with everything else they had decided to store in it.

For the longest time, Will had wanted to be a surgeon on top of being a pediatrician, and for a couple of years, at least, he had been able to live out that dream.

When Will lost his sight, however, that dream fell shattered into a million pieces at his feet. Will sighed as he thought back to the years following his blindness. At the very least, for a half-dozen years, he had been able to do what he liked best: helping others.

“Sorry I brought it up,” said Nico, feeling rather guilty for having even mentioned the career that Will’s blindness had so utterly destroyed. The clinic had only been able to alleviate Will’s sadness over losing his dream for a little while. Eventually, the fact that the clinic served as a reminder that he would never get to be the medical professional that he wanted to be, became too painful to bear.

_Will wanted the place closed down. Right now. He was sick of it. He was sick of the fact that it was a reminder and a daily slap to the face that he would never get to fulfil his potential as a healer._

_Will understood perfectly that he was just being bitter, but he didn_ _’t care. He wanted the clinic closed. What he didn’t understand was why Nico was so angry about it._

_“So you just want me to cancel all your appointments for the next three months?” said Nico. His voice grew more and more incredulous as the words spilled from his lips. It seemed, to Will, that Nico hadn’t quite believed what was going on until he’d spoken the words himself._

_“Yeah?” said Will, again unable to pinpoint exactly where Nico was. If not for the creak of the wheelchair as Nico wheeled himself to sit across Will’s desk, he would never have known where his husband was. “I don’t get what’s so bad about that.”_

_“Will,” said Nico. Will could hear the sheer exasperation in Nico’s voice, but he could also hear the grudging restraint. The attempt at being understanding. “Will, these people have waited_ months _to get seen by you. Your schedule is full and you only work five hours a day, fifteen minutes to a patient._ _”_

 _Will could just barely hear the sound, but it was definitely there. Nico was grinding his teeth._ _“I thought this place made you happy,” said Nico, the words hurting Will more than he had thought they would. “Why are you just turning away from these people who need your help?”_

 _Will clenched his fists on top of the table. Will couldn_ _’t see it, but Nico certainly could. Will was glowing with a corrosive light, the kind that only ever hung about him when he was really angry. “They don’t need_ my _fucking help, Nico,_ _” said Will. “They need_ help _. Recommend them to one of my siblings or convince dad to take care of some of them. I don_ _’t fucking care. I want to get out of this place.”_

 _Nico reached across the table and wrapped his fingers around Will_ _’s wrist. Will found the grip surprisingly strong. “This is not you, Will,” said Nico. Will could hear the anger clamouring for release just underneath the surface of Nico’s mind. “This… You wanted this so bad. This place made you so happy. Stop being so fucking selfish!”_

 _“Well maybe I want to be selfish for once in my entire life!” hissed Will, his own anger and frustration at_ everything _bubbling up in his words._ _“I have spent my entire life helping people in whatever way I can, and what has that gotten me? With a cripple for a husband and no eyes to take care of him with. The Fates aren’t just, they’re capricious and cruel and I have_ had _it. Leave these people to the Fates._ _”_

“Will,” said Nico, jarring Will out of the memory that was playing in his head. It wasn’t a very pleasant one, and Will regretted just how harsh he’d spoken that day, both to Nico and about the people that were looking for his help.

Will sighed. He was more prone to those incidents of ‘blacking out’ as Hazel had called them a couple of decades ago. Even when they stopped for Hazel, in their old age, Nico and Will had often found themselves at the mercy of memories of days long gone.

Most of the time, the memories were happy ones. Will had to admit that his favourite one was of the time that Jules-Albert had taken them back to Venice, insisting that his Italian was better, only for him to start singing in Latin.

Nevertheless, even if he had been blind then, Will had enjoyed the ride on the gondola. It reminded him of days when things weren’t as difficult. “Will, are you okay?” said Nico, again breaking Will out of his reminiscence.

Will shook his head. “Yeah,” he said, tilting his head up in what he hoped was Nico’s direction. He’d forgotten where he’d set Nico down already. He felt Nico’s hand on the shoulder opposite the way he was looking. “Yeah, I’m fine, just remembering how we had a big fight when I wanted the clinic closed down.”

“Oh,” said Nico, a hint of sadness creeping into his words. “I remember that. I wanted to get out of the house, but I didn’t feel safe going anywhere that late at night in my wheelchair,” said Nico, biting back a laugh. It brought a smile to Will’s lips.

“Remember how we spent the night crying angrily in bed?” said Will, turning his head to face the right direction. Will thought back to that night and ended up laughing. The memory wasn’t as bad as he thought it would’ve been. “I wanted to leave the house, too, but I’m fucking blind,” he said, in between peals of laughter.

Will was pretty sure that Nico was looking down at him with a raised eyebrow as he laughed himself into an early grave. “I feel like we were trying to sniffle louder and angrier than each other for hours that night.”

The silence that followed made Will uncomfortable until he felt the hand that Nico had on his shoulder trembling. He was concerned for a moment until he heard the laughter spill from Nico’s lips, much louder and much stronger than his own. Will felt a warmth creep up his cheeks. “We’re such dorks, Will,” said Nico, squeezing his shoulder; “I’m still sorry about bringing it up, though…”

“No,” said Will. He placed his hand on top of Nico’s on his shoulder. “It’s alright. There’s nothing to be sorry about.” There was a small smile flirting with his lips. Thoughts dwelt in the back of his mind about the things that he _had_ managed to accomplish even when he was blind.

Will raised his other hand to his face and wiped away the tears that had gathered at the corners of his eyes. “I might not have been able to do what I had always wanted to do, but…” Will smiled again. “When dad started having kids with powers like mine, I found a new purpose.”

Will and Nico had never opened the clinic again. By the time that Will learned that he had siblings that wanted to learn how to use their powers from him, the clinic had become such a symbol of Will’s squashed career and his failure to keep helping people because of his personal problems, that Will didn’t want to have anything to do with it.

Nevertheless, Will had managed to secure himself a job as a teacher at the camp for the Apollo kids. Of course, he wasn’t doing archery. He’d gotten good at it once he stopped thinking he sucked, but he was also blind and the last thing he wanted was accidentally shooting someone through the throat.

“I was able to help them learn how to use their powers for the benefit of others,” said Will, the smile on his face growing brighter with each word that he spoke. A certain peace settled upon him that hadn’t really been there for much of the last couple of decades. “In the end, I was able to do what I loved to do, right?”

Will threaded his fingers in between Nico’s, relishing the contact despite the coldness of Nico’s skin. “Between you and me,” said Will, his voice low as though he was sharing a dirty secret; “I also liked getting to gloat to myself afterwards that none of them were nearly as powerful as me.”

Before Will knew it, Nico was laughing again. The sound was so musical that it made his heart sing. Will felt a brief moment of panic when he felt Nico’s fingers slip away from his, followed by a very soft thud on what Will could only assume was the opposite side of the slab.

“I’m okay,” said Nico, the sound of his voice seemingly muffled. Will listened intently to the scuffling that came next as Nico tried to get back up on top of the slab of stone. When that was done, Will felt a hand on his shoulder again, squeezing it in comfort and solidarity.

“You’ve always done what you loved to do,” said Nico. Will could hear the genuine gratitude in his husband’s voice and couldn’t help but blush. “You might not have realized it, but you helped me and others like me when no one else could or even knew how to.”

Will heard a sigh and rustling as Nico clambered down from the slab of stone. He felt a weight lean against him, cold lips press against the skin of his neck. “I’ll always be thankful for that, you know?”

“I know,” said Will, smiling as he caught Nico’s chin in his fingers and tilted it up. He pressed a kiss to Nico’s lips and felt some more of the precious little time he had left get whisked away by his one and only ‘death boy.’ “And I’ll never forget that.”

Will pressed his lips against Nico’s again. Although he knew he shouldn’t do it, he did it anyway, and Nico was too shocked to complain. “All this time, you’ve helped me too,” he said.

Will’s free hand wandered down his body and found Nico’s. He threaded his fingers in between Nico’s again. “You’ve always held me close. You’ve always made sure to let me know you loved me…” Will trailed off. There were tears in his eyes again. “You’ve always guided me through the darkness, and I owe you more than I can ever repay you…”

“Well,” said Nico, tracing his one free hand along the loose folds of skin that stubbornly clung to Will’s neck. Will knew he looked like shit, but he had gotten used to that knowledge. He was _old_ after all. “I owe you my life and more, so we’re even, sunshine,” said Nico.

“I suppose we are,” said Will, a ragged laugh tearing from his throat. He was beginning to regret his decision to kiss Nico so much. It was actually painful to laugh now. Each guffaw made his chest hurt. His lungs had grown weak with age, after all, and it certainly didn’t help that he was beginning to feel quite cold.

As Nico leaned his head against Will’s shoulder, both of them started to smile. The whole situation was so familiar that Will felt like he had gone back in time, to the years when the times had not been so difficult as they were now.

Will turned his thoughts to those years when his eyes were still bright and full of life, and Nico’s had his legs to dance with Will in the silence of the night, when they were the only two people awake, and the whole world had gone to sleep.

Though the memories were sweet, Will found that they were not nearly as sweet as he had expected they would be. Instead, the happiest memories that Will remembered were the ones when his entire world was dark, when he’d been condemned to never see his husband’s beautiful eyes ever again, when he’d spent much of every day bumping into things in the house if they had been moved so much as an inch from where they were supposed to be.

“Hey,” said Nico, startling Will from his thoughts. “Do you remember the first time that we had sex after you went blind?”

Will grimaced to himself. That wasn’t a particularly pleasant memory, mostly because of how cringe-worthy it was in retrospect. He reached up with his free hand to play with the golden-silver wedding ring dangling about his neck by a fine Imperial Gold chain.

“What I do remember,” said Will, taking a breath; “It took five months for me to get over myself enough to even manage to get it up to have sex with you.” Will barked a brief laugh that didn’t nearly hurt as bad as the one that had come before.

Nico laughed, voice sounding so much stronger than Will’s. “Gods,” said Nico as Will shook his head from side to side, “I can’t imagine how we managed to go five months without sex in our thirties.”

They both knew the answer, and it was crippling depression, but neither Will nor Nico wanted to talk about it. All that Will knew was that after that one successful attempt, he and Nico had had sex much, _much_ more often than once every 5 months.

“Remember the first time we _tried_?” said Nico. He couldn’t help the mirth that slipped into his voice at the recollection.

“Yes!” said Will. He shook his head and poked one of his bony fingers into Nico’s side, smiling wider when Nico squealed with laughter. “You didn’t fucking tell me I was dirty-talking—badly, I should add—a potted plant until I was ready to strip!”

Nico couldn’t help but double over laughing, squealing once more when Will poked him in the side yet again. Nico being ticklish was one of the facts that Will had loved to exploit time and again in the years they had been together. “I still don’t understand how there was a potted plant in our bedroom!”

Will was shaking his head from side to side, pondering the absurdity of a potted plant in their bedroom, when all of a sudden he felt a hand against his cheek. Next thing he knew, Nico was kissing him again, the sensation cool and tingling on his lips.

“Oh, Will,” said Nico, leaning in for another kiss; “I love you so much.” The fact that Nico was kissing Will freely now would have meant very little to anyone else watching, but to Will, it was an incredibly profound thing. It was a message, Will knew, that Nico was giving him. It was a message that Nico didn’t have the heart to say to him out loud.

“ _Your time is almost up_ ” was what those two kisses signified, and instead of being afraid of his impending doom, Will found himself more at peace now than he had been at any other point in his life.

Before Will could say anything about the kisses, Nico started laughing. Will could tell that the laughter was half-forced, but he could also discern that it was genuine. “After all these years, I thought you had finally figured it out,” said Nico, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Good gods, Will,” said the son of Hades; “You trust me so much more than I thought.” Nico leaned his head against Will’s frail, bony shoulder. “There wasn’t a potted plant in the room, you know.”

“What?!” said Will, the protestation more hoarse now that the time he had left on this earth was rapidly dwindling. “What do you mean there wasn’t a potted plant? I checked the next day and there _was_ one!” Will was aware that he sounded so incredulous and betrayed that it didn’t come as any surprise that Nico started laughing even more.

“I had Hazel put that in there while you were asleep. I told her it helped calm you when you touched it.” Nico squealed when he felt Will’s bony finger poke him in the side again. There were few people that could take down the mighty Nico di Angelo, but Will Solace sure knew how to do it with a single finger, though Will had to admit, that single finger didn’t always have to be poked into Nico’s side.

Will distinctly remembered he could poke it somewhere else that would simply make Nico melt in his arms. “Oh you evil little man!” said Will, pressing his lips to Nico’s forehead. “I married a demon,” he said, coughing when a fit of laughter didn’t turn out as well as he wanted it to. “So you mean to say I was dirty-talking you the whole time?”

“Well,” said Nico, tracing a finger along Will’s chest. “I _did_ come from the loins of Hades himself.” Nico laughed and shook his head, pressing a kiss to Will’s shoulder. “No. You were dirty-talking a wall, and the only reason I told you about it was because you looked like you were about to try and _make out_ with the wall, and I thought you might feel better if I told you it was a potted plant instead.”

“You fiend!” exclaimed Will, his voice more ragged when it came out than it had been in a while. He drove his finger into Nico’s side once more before he devolved into a coughing fit that hurt every single part of him.

Nico patiently patted his back, waiting for the coughing fit to subside. “I can’t believe I married someone like you!” said Will. Nico laughed. As much as Will wanted to laugh, too, he didn’t want to hurt.

It had been so long since the two of them had been so carefree that it seemed almost scary to Will that he felt so free. He supposed they could afford it that day. In fact, there was no better time to be carefree as soon enough, the Underworld would be welcoming him.

After the laughter died down, Will and Nico found themselves in a long and peaceful quiet. They were both comfortable with the silence. They had been through so much together that even the quiet moments were meaningful.

It was Nico that broke the silence. “Do you remember that day three years ago?” said Nico. Will was pretty sure that Nico’s mischievous tone was followed with that signature smirk of his. Will pressed his fingers to Nico’s lips, and sure enough, the corners were turned up.

Will didn’t know why, but he started crying at that moment. One of his tears splashed onto Nico’s shoulder. “Of course,” he said, leaning his head against Nico’s; “I remember it like it was yesterday.”

Will pressed a kiss to Nico’s temple. “How could I forget?” said Will, remembering the fateful day. “That was the day that you gave me the biggest fucking fright of my life.”

Nico stroked the side of Will’s face and wiped away the tears that had come unbidden. He couldn’t help but grin as he took Will’s hands in his own. “Why were you so afraid?”

“You mean why was I afraid when I was hugging you from behind and then all of a sudden you tap me on the shoulder and say ‘boo?’ like some idiot?” said Will, pressing another kiss to Nico’s temple. “But really,” he said, his voice becoming softer. “I was afraid you were going to leave me to die alone.”

Nico pressed his thumb to Will’s face, and Will couldn’t help but lean into the touch. Even now, as cold as Nico’s ethereal form was, the contact was warm and comforting for Will. “Everyone dies alone, Will. You know that,” said Nico, pressing his own kiss to Will’s cheek.

“But I would never leave you,” said Nico, squeezing Will’s hand in his own. He could feel the spark of life in Will already dwindling. Will wasn’t on his last day, not by a long shot. Will was in his final minutes. “Never again.”

Will smiled and wrapped his arms around Nico’s ghost. There was one time when they had tried to get married in the mortal world, just to see how it was done. The wedding officiant had tried to get them to say ‘Til death do us part,’ and they had both laughed in the officiant’s face.

Will had never truly understood the profundity of that moment until Nico had died in his arms. The son of Hades had been at peace, and asleep, for that matter. Will had held his husband’s corpse as it grew stiff and cold, until Nico, as a ghost, decided to mess with him.

 _Will found himself entirely unaware of what was going on around him. All he knew was that he was more afraid now than he had ever been before as he felt the life drain away from Nico_ _’s body._

 _Will was no son of Hades, but he could feel all of the vital systems and processes going on in Nico_ _’s body start slowing down, and, as time passed, ultimately come to a halt. He pressed his forehead against the back of Nico’s neck and started to weep silently for his husband._

_Will knew in his heart that Nico had not been afraid when he died, and in many ways, Will also knew that Nico had actually been looking forward to it. Ever since that day so long ago, when Nico had lost the use of his legs, Will had known that Nico thought of his body as a fleshy prison for his soul. Death, Will hoped, had brought his husband freedom._

_More than that, however, Will was afraid of being left alone. That was why he wept. He didn_ _’t know when he would be able to have the company of Nico again. He didn’t want to spend the last few years of his life, however few they were, without his beloved._

 _Almost instantly, the thoughts were chased out of Will_ _’s mind when he heard a soft “boo!” from behind him. The voice was so familiar yet so alien that Will couldn’t help but scream out of sheer terror, coughing afterwards because the damn sound had hurt his throat._

 _The scream was so high-pitched and loud that it was foreign to Will. He paused for a moment, only to confuse himself when the screaming stopped, too._ _“You should see your face!” said the voice again, barely keeping its composure in between fits of laughter._

 _A cool and tingly hand touched Will_ _’s shoulder and squeezed. He was blind, yes, but that didn’t stop his eyelids from fluttering open. He grabbed the hand that was on his shoulder and followed it up, his fingers tingling from the contact._

 _Up the spectre_ _’s arm Will’s fingers went, finding shoulders, a slender neck, and a face that was very familiar to his touch. “You fucker!” he whispered. He was well-aware that his scream might have woken the entire household. He hoped he could convince Dan and Kyle that everything was alright. “How did you get young again?!”_

 _Just as Will had hoped would not happen, no sooner than he_ _’d said the words, he heard the sounds of three pairs of feet rushing through the house. Before Nico could respond to him, he heard the door bang open, followed by a squeak, and the sounds of two almost-middle-aged men hitting the floor unconscious._

 _Will heard the yawning of a teenager by the door. He could almost imagine her shaking her head. He didn_ _’t know what his granddaughter looked like, but Nico had described her on more than one occasion._

 _Bianca was their granddaughter_ _’s name. It hadn’t been Nico’s idea, although he hadn’t been opposed at all to the idea. She was sixteen now, a young woman by most regards. She was bound to start going on quests just like the rest of her family soon, much to the chagrin of her father._

 _Everything that Will knew of Bianca, he knew from the way he_ _’d touched her face to figure out her features, and how Nico had described her on more than one occasion. Nico said that Bianca took more after the Hades side of the family, dressing in mostly dark shades on top of darker shades. She wore her hair with purple extensions and highlights, and she painted her nails black. Will remembered asking if she was just going through a goth phase before Nico had to drag him away, as much as the wheelchair allowed, to the sound of Bianca_ hissing _at him._

 _Nevertheless, Bianca didn_ _’t seem to react to seeing the ghost of her_ nonno _hovering by the bed quite as viciously as her fathers. In fact, she gingerly stepped around their unconscious bodies to look closer at Nico._ _“Are you dead,_ nonno _?_ _” she said._

 _Will didn_ _’t know what Bianca did next, but he was well aware that Nico was laughing. She probably did something with her face that Nico couldn’t resist. “That’s not fair,_ nonno _,_ _” she said, in that exasperated tone so common to teenagers; “You get to enjoy the Underworld now!”_

 _Nico wiped the joyful tears from the corners of his eyes. His granddaughter never failed to make him smile._ _“_ Mi tesorina, _not yet,_ _” said Nico, bringing a smile to Will’s face as he entwined their fingers together. Will sighed happily when Nico pressed a kiss to his forehead._

 _Will had been so afraid that he would have to learn to live for however long he had left without Nico, but now, he had faith that he wouldn_ _’t have to. “I can’t leave the love of my life alone in the last couple of years he’ll be alive, now can I?” said Nico, grinning as he slipped into the bed and wrapped his arms around Will._

 _Will had to admit that the sensation would have to take some getting used to. The feeling of Nico_ _’s arms against his skin was like the feeling of getting his leg soaked in ice-water whilst he was feeling pins and needles. It was strange, but it was contact after a fashion, and he could learn to get used to it._

_“Ugh,” said Bianca, feigning disgust as she turned around and wiped tears from her eyes. “You two are gross,” she said. All those present in the room knew that she didn’t mean it, and was simply deflecting so she wouldn’t have to deal with her emotions. Gods knew, both Nico and Will had done it more times than they’d cared to count. “I’m going to go bleach my brain now to get the image of my grampa making out with a ghost out of my head.”_

“Hey, Will,” said Nico, the words wrenching Will from his memory back into the real world. Will shook his head, though he didn’t do it in Nico’s direction. He always thought that having his life flash before his eyes was supposed to happen at the moment of his end, not so much before it. “Are you alright?” said Nico.

“Yeah,” said Will, smiling at Nico. “I’m alright. I was just thinking about how your granddaughter has a morbid fascination with the Underworld.” Will had to bite back a grin when he heard Nico’s laughter.

Truth be told, Will wasn’t surprised that Bianca was so obsessed with the Underworld and Hades. She took after Nico more than she did either of her fathers, after all, and she was in absolute awe whenever her great-grandfather came around to visit.

Will remembered, rather fondly, that their son Dan liked blaming the fact that Nico had passed down his now-legendary sword to Bianca. Will, on the other hand, was convinced that it had everything to do with the way that Bianca found out that she was a Legacy of Hades: when Jules-Albert barged into the house with Nico in his arms because Nico had somehow wrecked his wheelchair on the rare occasion that he left the house without Will.

“I’m not afraid, Nico,” said Will. A small smile was flirting with the corners of his lips. “If that’s what you’re asking, I mean. I haven’t been afraid for a very long time,” he said, with a sigh; “I’m looking forward to it, actually. I just… I want to know you’ll be there with me when I go.”

Nico shook his head sadly from side to side. Son of Hades himself as Nico was, it was still difficult to watch Will struggling with the matter of death. “Everyone dies alone, Will,” said Nico. He took Will’s hand and placed it against his cheek. Nico didn’t mean the words as a no, but it seemed that that was how Will took it. The son of Apollo started to cry.

Will frowned when Nico took his hand and placed it on the basalt slab that both of them were leaning on. Will’s tears rolled down his face. His fingers trembled as they swept over the skull with a radiant sun halo engraved onto the stone.

Nico had told Will that the engraving of the sun was gilded in gold-leaf, whilst the skull was inlaid with silver-leaf. A tiny part of Will wished that he could see it, but at the same time, he was afraid. It was a memorial. A monument to Nico. He didn’t know if he could look at it and not break down crying.

Nico was not done with Will’s fingers, however. Nico guided his hand further down the elaborate memorial that, according to Nico, Hades himself had lovingly crafted.

Before long, Will’s fingers found a groove. It was the letter “T.” Whilst the words were not in braille, Will realized that he could read them perfectly fine. Hades had not used a chisel to etch the words into the stone. It seemed as though the words had been _burned_ into the stone.

“ _The Exception._ ”

That single phrase was something that Hades always brought up in the conversations that Will had with him after dinner when they came over, while Nico was chatting with Persephone. Will never truly understood what the words meant until the day that Nico had died, and Hades visited with a smile upon his face to explain their meaning to Will.

“I was my father’s exception,” said Nico, voice calm and soothing, just enough to calm the rapid, but weak beating of Will’s heart. “Hazel doesn’t really count, because, well, she was Pluto’s, but that’s beside the point.”

Nico shook his head and barked a quiet laugh. Nico brought Will’s hands up to his lips and kissed them, feeling the life drain even more out of his beloved husband. “What I’m trying to say is, Will, everyone dies alone, but you’ll be the one exception to that rule.” Nico placed his forehead against Will’s. “I won’t leave you. Ever.”

Will had no words for the joy that he felt at that moment even as pain the likes of which he’d never known radiated from his chest. Heart attack. Somehow, Will had never expected he would die from a heart attack instead of being stabbed through the gut by a monster.

Needless to say, Will pulled Nico close with whatever strength he had left in his failing body and pressed his lips to his husband’s for the last time while still alive.

When finally, the two of them broke apart, Will breathed his last. The warmth of his exhalation ghosted over the ethereal skin of his beloved. His world turned darker than it had been at any time during the long years of his blindness. Despite that, Will could feel all of his worldly burdens fall away.

The moment that it took for Will to hear his body give way felt like an eternity for him as he drifted through the dark void that lay between life and death. Everything sounded as though it was coming to him through molasses. The thud that he could only assume was the sound of his body falling to the ground came to him muffled by the very air that seemed to have turned thick as jelly.

Will felt a cold wind waft over his prone form. He could feel the strong arms of Thanatos embracing him. Yet, before they could take him away, he saw a brilliant pinprick of light in the distance.

Will reached out to it, though the action itself required much effort on his part. He couldn’t touch the light, no matter how much he tried, but it began to rapidly brighten his world that had been so dark for so very long.

In that instant before Will returned to the land of the living as a ghost, he looked behind him and saw that it was not Thanatos holding him. Instead, it was Eros, strong arms rippling, crimson eyes shimmering. “I don’t often get a chance to touch such pure love,” said Eros, with a grin, before the thick darkness fully lifted and a voice so familiar it was painful came through the light.

“Will!” said Nico, concerned but at the same time relieved at the sight of his husband’s ghost rising from the corpse that now lay prone before him. “Will, come back to me,” he said, waiting for the spectre’s eyes to open.

Will sucked in a deep breath as his eyes fluttered open, able to see the world that had been denied from him for so long. He brought his hand to his mouth, unable to help the gasp that escaped his lips. “G-gods!” said Will, stammering as he threw his arms around Nico.

Renewed strength surged through Will’s limbs as he happily embraced his husband of fifty years, squeezing Nico as hard as he could without fear that he would somehow cause pain to either himself or the ghost .”I can see you again!”

Tears streamed from Will’s eyes as he pressed his lips to Nico’s. When they broke apart, Will took a good long look at his husband. They had both been restored to the prime of their youth, and though the fact that they were both translucent made it difficult to discern their features, Will whispered “You’re as beautiful as I remember you.”

A tinge of red crept into Nico’s cheeks, but before he could say anything, both him and Will jumped where they floated when they heard the door to the house slam open. “Grampa!” shouted a familiar voice.

Bianca had bloomed into a beautiful woman over the last three years, although she had not quite gotten over the whole black-on-black-on-black phase she’d had for the longest time. She ran out onto the back porch, waving a bottle of water and a thick blanket. “I told you not to go out with _nonno_ without water and a blanket!”

Bianca stood at the top of the steps down to the backyard. She had felt something in her chest the moment that Will had died, though she lacked the training in her powers to know that Will’s death was the reason. She glared down at the two ghosts shimmering in the bright sunlight before she saw the mop of unruly pale hair sticking out from behind the memorial.

Bianca felt her heart lurch in her chest, but she steeled herself. She had to be strong. Both her grandparents were looking at her. She took a deep breath and glared at the two spirits that had taken to sitting on top of the memorial. “That better not be grampa’s body behind _nonno_ ’s memorial, you two. Do you have any idea how dad will react?”

Nico started laughing and winked at Bianca. “For the record,” he said, elbowing Will on the side with almost enough force to knock him off of the memorial, “She didn’t get that from my side of the family.”

“Excuse me?” said Will, frowning at Nico and feigning offence. “Are you calling me a nag?” he said, poking a finger at Nico’s side before tackling the son of Hades to the ground. They both landed with a thud before they devolved into a laughing, rolling mess on the pristine, manicured grass of the backyard.

Bianca wiped a tear from her eyes and stomped her feet. It was certainly something else, seeing her grandparents so truly happy for once. “I can hear you both, you know!” she said, glaring at the two who stopped rolling around only to grin at her. “I’m calling dad,” she said, exasperated.

Bianca turned away to wipe the tears that suddenly fell down her cheeks unbidden. It was so much easier trying to pretend she wasn’t affected by the deaths as a Legacy of Hades, but truth be told, she didn’t want either of her grandparents to go.

When her _nonno_ had died, Bianca had been relieved when he said he was staying for the last years of her grampa’s life. Now that both of them were dead, however, she knew that nothing was stopping them from descending to Elysium, where she wouldn’t see them again until _she_ was old, wrinkly, and gross.

Nico looked back up at Bianca’s retreating back. “That gives me an idea,” he said, eyes sparkling with mischief as his entire face split into a grin. For a moment, at least, their attempts at tickling each other to death—despite already being dead—halted.

Will took a moment to catch his breath before he looked Nico in the eye. He saw the light of mischief there, and while he hadn’t seen it in decades, he still knew it well enough.

“I don’t like that look,” said Will, raising an eyebrow in Nico’s direction. “And before you say anything, I might not have seen your face in decades, but I saw it enough before I went blind to know that you’re planning something particularly mean.

\----------

Daniel Wilson O’Connor had taken more after Will than Nico. He was more than a little averse to all the fighting that demigods did, though it often made him the butt of Nico’s jokes about how quests now were much easier than they had been ‘back in his day.’

Dan had, however, taken an entirely different career path than either of his parents. Athena had gladly taken him under her wing, and now, in his early forties, he found himself swamped with more work for the courts than he thought he could handle.

It came as no surprise that today of all days, when his _papa_ had insisted that he take a day off from work, Dan was in their home office, working on the laptop that Athena had given him.

Dan was also rather cranky because Nico had been rather obstinate about the whole thing. He loved his parents dearly, but there were times when they were simply quite too much.

Dan didn’t think he could blame his _papa_ , though. He suspected that his dad was going to die _very_ soon. There was no other reason for Nico to insist rather forcefully, in the middle of the night, that everyone take _this_ particular day off. Dan was only glad that being the son of Nico di Angelo and Legacy to Hades, he was somewhat desensitized to death by now, having seen more of it than any mortal deserved to.

Needless to say, Dan groaned when he heard the loud stomping of feet up the stairs followed by a pounding on the door. He was _just about_ done with one of the cases he had to handle, but it didn’t seem like the knocking was going to stop.

“Dad?” said Bianca, hammering her fist harder on the solid wood of the door to the home office. Dan shook his head. Just like Nico, his only daughter could be rather stubborn. She took after her _nonno_ more than him or his husband. “Dad, open up!”

“Sweetie, I’m working,” yelled Dan in response as he started typing furiously on his keyboard. “Can’t this wait?” he said. There was a grumbling from beyond the door, but the knocking fell quiet. Dan sighed in relief and turned his eyes back to the computer.

Dan was about to save the document when all of a sudden, Bianca started pounding on his door again. “Don’t you dare!” yelled Bianca. Dan was taken aback by the hostility in his daughter’s voice. Dan turned his eyes back to the laptop. “No, no, no, you are not going to do this? Do you understand me?!” yelled Bianca.

Dan was a very patient man. Well, at least he was more patient than his husband. Regardless, his daughter yelling at him for gods know what was simply unacceptable. He had taught her better manners than this. “Bianca!” he said, “You do not talk to me like that, you understand?”

“I’m not talking to you!” yelled Bianca in response, prompting Dan to raise his eyebrows in alarm. Bianca started pounding on the door in earnest. “Dad! Open up! I swear to the gods, I am not going to let them do t—”

Before Dan could hear what else it was that Bianca said, he chanced a glance down at his desk. There, to either side of his laptop, poking through the solid wood of the desktop, were the shimmering, ethereal heads of his parents, looking up at him. “Boo!” they said at the same time.

Dan didn’t have any time to process what was going on. He let out an involuntary squeak, his eyes rolled up in his head, and he fell back, the chair he was sitting on falling with him. The damn thing made quite the ruckus when it hit the floor before Dan spilled out of it.

Nico and Will drifted out of the table and hovered over their son with grins on their faces. Bianca, on the other hand, was having none of it. She kicked down the door to the office and stormed in, glaring at her grandparents.

As much as Bianca was the typical rebellious teenager, she truly loved her dad and she wasn’t particularly fond of seeing him get hurt, even if it was in mostly harmless pranks. “He’s not hurt that badly,” teased Nico, while Will was beginning to look guiltier by the minute.

Nico looked at his husband and laughed. “You should see your face,” said Nico, with a wide grin. “It’ll bruise in the morning,” said Nico; “That’s what he gets.”

Nico flashed his trademark, mischievous grin at Bianca. “Brought up by a son of Hades and you would think this was the first time he saw a ghost. Disgraceful, honestly,” he teased.

Will squeezed Nico’s shoulder as they watched Dan, seemingly more peaceful now, knocked out cold, than he had been in quite a while. “I would think having your parents’ ghosts show up out of nowhere is bound to give anyone a scare,” said Will, watching as Bianca ran over to make sure her dad was okay.

“We would know?” said Nico, with a somewhat more somber smile in Will’s direction. “Us? The last generation of Greek Demigods that grew up with practically guaranteed dysfunctional families? Right.”

Will punched Nico in the shoulder playfully before sitting on the desk and swinging his legs over the edge. They watched for a few minutes as Bianca tended to her dad. It took a little while, but eventually, Dan stirred from his unconsciousness.

As soon as Dan opened his eyes, he very nearly fainted again from the sight of his parents’ ghosts. He breathed deep and looked gratefully at his daughter as she helped him back onto his feet. He glared at his parents, though he should have known they would mess with him at some point. “You two are assholes,” he said, as he bent down and set the chair back upright.

When Dan looked up, however, instead of seeing reproach on his parents’ undoubtedly-younger faces, he saw wide grins. Despite the pain in his back because of falling over, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of happiness all throughout his being.

Dan knew that he _should_ be feeling sad now that his parents were both dead, but he hadn’t seen either of them this happy in such a long time. Perhaps it was better that they _were_ dead, no longer bound by the shackles of earthly concerns, caged by their bodies turned into prisons by the scars of their sacrifices. Now they could actually be happy again.

“Guilty as charged,” said both Nico and Will at the same time, turning to each other with twin grins. It almost seemed, to Dan, that not only had his fathers become younger physically, but they had become younger mentally as well.

Truth be told, Dan couldn’t blame them. Even knowing just the stories of the times that had come before Theopolis, Dan knew deep within that tragedy had robbed many a demigod of their youth. Now, however, Nico and Will would get to live out their prime for all eternity.

“Does that mean you’re going to live at the palace now?” said Bianca, who was holding onto her father’s arm. Dan looked at his daughter, smiled, and squeezed her arm in comfort. He regretted it instantly. “Can I go?” she said, looking pointedly at her _nonno_.

“Ask him,” said Nico, jerking his head in Dan’s general direction. Dan scowled and glared at his papa. “He’s the kill-joy in the family.”

Will swatted Nico on the back of the head as he laughed. “Don’t blame him for not wanting to fight monsters, Nico,” he said, “Gods know we’ve had enough of that to last the next half millennium.”

Nico looked at Will and smiled. It was true. There was nothing wrong with wanting a calmer, more routine life, as long as it was a happy one. He grabbed Will’s hands, tangling his fingers in between Will’s.

The two ghosts drifted from the table over to where Dan and Bianca were standing. They wrapped their arms around their family, the beautiful child and grandchild they’d managed to raise despite everything, and sighed in contentment at just being able to hold them.

“Don’t you worry,” said Nico, placing a kiss on Bianca’s cheek before doing the same for Dan. “Dad spoils us rotten so you count on us visiting a lot, okay?” he said. Dan nodded, the tears starting to come to his eyes as it dawned on him that his parents _were_ actually dead.

The room rumbled as Hades swept into it, there personally to collect the souls of his son and his son-in-law. “I heard that,” said Hades, raising an eyebrow in Nico’s direction as his son raised an eyebrow back.

“I don’t see you denying it,” said Nico, with a grin that made Hades scratch his head and shuffle where he stood in discomfort. As much as it was his duty to uphold the laws of life and death, Hades was well aware that Nico and Will would somehow make it to the surface whether he wanted to or not.

Bianca ran right through Nico and wrapped her arms around her great-grandfather. She looked up at him and grinned. “Can I come?” she said. “Please, great-grampa?” Hades grimaced at the term of endearment. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate it. He did. He simply didn’t appreciate being thought of as a great-grandfather. He _still_ looked rather young despite being millennia-old, after all.

Hades looked at Dan, knowing better than _anyone_ now to not draw the ire of a parent. Gods know he’d suffered enough with Demeter. “Fine,” said Dan, but before Bianca could celebrate, he added “But only if Kyle and I can come.”

Hades’ face brightened in a smile. “Of course,” he said. Over the intervening years between the war with Gaea and now, Hades had become more accepting of other people. In fact, he liked showing people around the palace in the Underworld, even if it was mostly to enjoy the looks of utter terror they shot him every once in a while.

Nico held Will close as Dan pressed a kiss to both of their cheeks. He watched as his son walked over to the doorway.

“Kyle O’Connor!” bellowed Dan, making Bianca wince. If there was anything that Dan inherited from Will, it was the dreadful talent of making loud, horrible noises. There was a loud crash from downstairs, that had everyone in the room snickering, followed by even louder footsteps up the stairs.

“Dan?” said Kyle, breathless, when he reached the top of the flight. “What’s wrong?” he said, peering into the room. By the time that Dan opened his mouth to answer his husband, Kyle had already seen the ghosts of his parents and was halfway to the floor.

Dan rolled his eyes and carefully dragged his husband into the room. “We’re ready, I suppose,” he said, laughing. Kyle had never gotten used to the entire family being so well-acquainted with death and the afterlife. It had never been too visible, but in the last three years, with a ghost dwelling in and around the house, Kyle had been less than amused.

Will and Nico kissed each other and watched with twinkling eyes the scene that unfolded before them. Despite everything that had happened thus far in their lives, they couldn’t believe that they had raised such a happy and loving family. They couldn’t have been prouder, even if they tried.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed that. I know the previous two legs of this story arc have been rather angsty, so I know you'll appreciate the fluffier approach of this one. Don't you think it's weird? The fic dealing with death is the fluffy one? The fics dealing with the life and times of Nico and Will, on the other hand, were superangsty? XD.
> 
> Anyway, I certainly enjoyed writing this, so I would appreciate it if you could leave me a comment with your thoughts! I kind of have this headcanon that if Will and Nico ever have a kid and their kid gets married, that the poor spouse would have to put up with so much shit from the in-laws. XD. Hauntings above case in point.
> 
> So yeah, if you like the story, leave a kudos! If you'd like to tell me how you enjoyed the entire arc until this finale, I would love to hear it. :3. Have a wonderful day, and I would love it if some of you introduced yourselves over on my blog at [Malkuthe Highwind](http://malkuthehighwind.tumblr.com/ask)!


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